


The Sky Has No Borders

by slotumn



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: 1920s, Airplanes, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Post-War, Alternate Universe - World War I, Angst, Bittersweet, F/M, Ficlet, Fighter Pilots, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Pilots, Post-War, Post-World War I, World War I, claude is an ace pilot, lysithea is a genius engineer/cryptographer, no beta we die like Glenn, they are both disillusioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23855002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slotumn/pseuds/slotumn
Summary: "I wonder why people like pilots and planes so much," he thought out loud, looking down at the piles of fan letters he didn't really intend to read. "Aside from the inherent coolness of flying, that is."Lysithea looked up from checking the landing gear of the mostly-white triplane, with a red painted "beard" underneath the engine, where its nickname "Barbarossa" came from."That's pretty much it. Grass is always greener on the other side, humans always admire places they can't reach on their own."A.K.A. Post-WW1 AU LysiClaude
Relationships: Lysithea von Ordelia/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Slotumn Portfolio





	The Sky Has No Borders

"I wonder why people like pilots and planes so much," he thought out loud, looking down at the piles of fan letters he didn't really intend to read. "Aside from the inherent coolness of flying, that is."

Lysithea looked up from checking the landing gear of the mostly-white triplane, with a red painted "beard" underneath the engine, where its nickname "Barbarossa" came from.

"That's pretty much it. Grass is always greener on the other side, humans always admire places they can't reach by on their own."

"Well, I'll be the first to admit that the view from air is usually pretty great," he replied. "Usually."

A war wasn't supposed to be included in that "usually," of course, but even when he set off into battle, looking down as the fields and neighborhoods got smaller and smaller was still quite the experience-- like a dream, with the risk of death.

Sometimes, he almost felt that once he landed and got back to reality, all his comrades who crashed and burned from the air or rotted to death in the trenches would all be back and laughing with him like the good old days in the academy. 

It never happened. He got into it knowing that would never happen again, yet even now-- two years after the war ended-- it still hit him in the guts like the surprise sucker punches he used to get as a child from his half-siblings. 

"Clau-- Khalid," she corrected herself. "You're blanking out again."

"Ah, sorry," he said, then stuffed the letters back in his bag before kissing her. 

She sighed. 

"You don't need to apologize."

Meaning, "I understand."

Lysithea never had the idealistic streak that he had, but the war left its marks on everyone, whether they were wide-eyed dreamers or sullen pessimists. 

Some nights, she told him bits and pieces of the things she saw and felt, cracking intercepted codes or developing new gadgets optimized to take lives. In exchange, he told her about the times he thought he would die, being chased down by enemy pilots or feeling gunshots underneath from anti-air units.

They never asked for more from each other than what they were given. 

They didn't need to.

"You know," he finally began, gazing at the early morning sky, "I used to think that people would stop fighting and hating each other, if only they could fly to different places across the world and see that humans were just humans, no matter where they came from."

And to think he considered himself a realist once.

"...I always thought that being similar was precisely what caused so much conflict between people," she replied.

He grinned, lifted her up, gave a kiss, and spun around before ending it with another kiss. 

"Then it's a good thing that the two of us are very different."

She smiled back, her eyes the same color as the rosy glow of dawn. 

"It is."

**Author's Note:**

> [LysiClaude week twitter](https://twitter.com/LysiClaudeWeek?s=20)
> 
> [My twitter](https://twitter.com/slotumn?s=09)
> 
> I always thought a WW1~1920s era AU would be pretty cool for these two, precisely because the outcome of the war would be the opposite of what happens in the VW route. 
> 
> Also not explicitly detailed in the story, but these two are travelling the world in Khalid's plane after the war is over.


End file.
